Israel’s withholding of corpses is a pyrrhic victory over the dead

In the whole history of humanity I don’t believe that we have seen an occupation that holds the living accountable for their struggle against their enforced loss of dignity, and then kills them for doing so, before punishing their corpses. And yet this is what the Israeli occupation does to the Palestinians, alive and dead.

Israel’s withholding of dozens of corpses of Palestinians that its troops have killed betrays the most basic norms of human morality. It is also a violation of international laws and conventions. Israel has become an expert in such lawbreaking since the very beginning of its occupation of Palestinian land in 1948. The bodies and remains of the martyrs are held hostage by Israel, an act of extortion that prevents their families from laying their loved ones to rest.

The violation of the sanctity of the dead comes in many forms, such as mutilation and even, it is alleged, the theft of organs, as........